Simple, he saw his laker team had a real shot to win it all, so he put off surgery cuz love him or hate him, he is one of the tougher players in the league, and probably the most mentally tough on the court. More then a few players would have opted for the finger surgery right when the injury happened, and its definately not as easy injury to play with. These Olympics mean ALOT to Kobe aswell, he wants to put the USA back at the top, like many Americans he feels embarrassed from the last few US efforts, and i'll make an early and easy pick for Kobe as Olympic MVP and USA with the Gold